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Primus and the Chocolate factory featuring the Fungi with Special guest Clutch

There are very few moments in life where you know you saw something that was a one of a kind experience, sometimes you read about the show to be at, and for Primus and the Chocolate Factory featuring the Fungi band with special guest Clutch, it was the show to be at. I have been actively going to concerts since I was 12 and a music journalist for close to 5 years; I have seen everyone from Jackson Browne playing with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, to Black Sabbath, Skinny Puppy, Marilyn Manson, How to Destroy Angels first show and this show was the greatest thing I have ever witness. I need the video to this concert, the entire show. It was the most spectacular thing I have ever seen and this is why.

Clutch was requested by the band to come out to the Vegas show to play with the band. Front of men of both bands had talked about it while on stage, if this was a full blown tour with the duel bands it would be one dynamic concert to attend. With front man Neil Fallon, constant movement could come off as annoying or fake but rather a reflection of how the music and the energy that the band is giving off only reflects this on stage. (the photos I took only prove what he really looks like on stage through a lens of a camera) Much like with their last tour, they graced us audience members with a few songs from their upcoming album (due out in October). It is always nice to hear new music when the band is working on it because as fans it prompts us to really want the new album when it comes out. Aside from their new music, we were of course able to hear some of the classic songs like “Pure Rock Fury”, and “Unto the Beach.”. What is nice about seeing Fallon perform is that he not only gets into the grove of the song but we are able see him play different instruments for different songs. At one point he was playing with a cow bell and of course being a child of the 00's not only do I have a love of cow bell but I also have the need to yell out more cow bell because there is never to much cow bell. As a front man it is easy to think that they do nothing but sing but Fallon only proves that that is a small portion of what he contributes to the band. In general everyone works well with one another, and like Primus the sound was so on point it was ridiculous.

After Clutch had played their set, Primus came on to play their first set. That's right their first set. This was not like the 3d tour or what would come later. It was a stripped down version of their concerts, just the band jamming with lights that matched the speed of their music. They started the set with “Those Damned Blue Collar Tweakers”, and songs like “Frizzle Fry” played, two songs I was very excited to hear. It was a great set, they had picked a great selection for the first half, playing all of their songs but I needed to know what the Chocolate Factory was and that would come much later.

When they did take their break and came back, behind the curtain was literally the Chocolate Factory. Les Claypool came out on stage wearing a mask and holding a stand up bass, not only was that going on but there was huge mushrooms, lollipops, the ever lasting goop stopper, and Willy Wonka playing on the back of the screen. Each of part of the movie that was played corresponded with what part of the song they were playing. I was not sure what was going to happen but to hear all covers of Willy Wonka gave me goosebumps down my arm because I did not know about the album that came out the year before (where was my memo? I went out and bough it the next day). To be quite honest there are not enough words to describe how amazing this performance was. It was literally the greatest concert I have been to overall. Both bands were so amazing I can not praise this performance enough. There were OOMPA LOOMPAS ON STAGE for the Oompa Loompa songs. The encore for the band was on the chocolate factory set and it was amazing. It was just amazing. I am currently not taking interviews because I'm taking so many classes at the University of Las Vegas but I would interview Les Claypool anyways so I can discuss how this all came to be. This was the show to be at for sure. Claypool is known for the strange way that he plays the bass, and this only added to how the sound came off. The fact that he played his metal stand up bass for most of the songs only made the sound perfect. What was awesome was that the guitarist was the one who sang “I want it know” which was a spot on performance. I have been gushing about this show to anyone who would listen to me for me then 5 minutes it was just that amazing.

 

As a side note Primus made special candy bars for this tour and that is by far the coolest band merch I have ever bought. I am framing it and it will become some of the coolest wall art along with some of the photos I was able to take.

 

 

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